The "golden age" in the traumatic weapon market did not last long. After a series of incidents that became public, the hype that has become traditional for our country has risen.
Not to say that the incidents were out of the ordinary: several fights with the use of traumatics, several cases of shooting at weddings, several cases of exceeding with necessary defense (which, given our law enforcement practice in self-defense, is a rather dubious argument). I am sure that during the same period a much larger crop of dead and crippled people was collected with bats, knives and other household items.
One of the incidents looks interesting when Anatoly Maurin, a 39-year-old lieutenant colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, shot the driver of a snowblower. According to media reports, Maureen fired from a gas pistol converted to fire traumatic cartridges. According to the lieutenant colonel, he just wanted to scare the communal services worker, so he aimed at the leg, knowing that it would not cause serious damage to his health. But everything turned out wrong: the bullet damaged the artery, and the driver died of blood loss right in the cab of his special vehicle. We will return to this incident later.
In general, the fact remains: as a result of more frequent cases of press coverage, it was decided to “react”, and in mid-2011, President D. A. Medvedev as soon as possible signed amendments to the law "On weapons".
Main innovations:
- the introduction for all types of traumatic weapons of a single designation OOOP (firearms of limited destruction);
- severe limitation of muzzle energy for all types of traumatic weapons at the level of 91 joules;
- limitation on the number of purchased OOOP for the owner in the amount of no more than two units;
- passing an exam, including a practical and theoretical part, upon obtaining a license and retaking once every five years;
- a ban on the sale of foreign traumatic weapons in Russia;
- prohibition of metal cores in cartridges for traumatic weapons.
The clause on the introduction of a ban on the sale of foreign traumatic weapons unequivocally hints that the domestic manufacturer applied its pens to this bill, since there were no other objective prerequisites for removing foreign weapons from the market, they are certified on a general basis.
The innovations have dealt a devastating blow to the entire trauma market. Decreased efficiency, withdrawal from the market of high-quality foreign weapons, dancing with a tambourine when obtaining and renewing a license, a limitation on the number of no more than two pieces, forced many to abandon their licenses, weapons, or plans to obtain them.
Subsequently, the legislation in the field of traumatic weapons only became stricter. In particular, the amendments of the deputy Irina Yarovaya in 2014 increased the age of acquisition of OOOP to 21 years, limited the places where you can stay with OOOP, increased liability for wearing in a state of alcoholic intoxication and loss of a weapon.
What can you say about the changes in the legislation? On the one hand, this direction was quite uncontrolled and required legal regulation. On the other hand, the decisions made do not always look justified and reasonable.
For example, the requirement to pass the exam is objectively necessary, since some buyers of traumatic weapons have no idea how to handle them at all, and this leads to accidents during handling and cases of exceeding self-defense.
As an example, we can cite the story of a shooting instructor, when during the exam for the acquisition of an OOP, a candidate began to insert cartridges into the pistol magazine backwards.
Even the requirement to retake once every five years, although unpleasant, will at least force the owners from time to time to study what our lawmakers have invented.
The most painful point for many owners is the reduction in power to 91 joules and strict control over the implementation of this requirement. Most likely, this was inevitable, since without it, through the efforts of manufacturers and consumers, the muzzle energy of a "traumatic" weapon would soon surpass that of a combat weapon, with the provision of the possibility of penetrating class I and II body armor with a rubber ball (humor).
The clause on the possibility of acquiring no more than two units of OOOP, instead of the previously existing limit of five units, looks absolutely ridiculous. Probably, before its adoption, in the eyes of lawmakers, the owner of the trauma looked something like this:
The only thing that this item influenced was the decrease in the income of the producers of OOOP. In the end, in order to minimize the likelihood of characters from the above movie, it was enough to prohibit the simultaneous wearing of more than one or two units of OOOP.
And finally, restrictions on wearing in certain places definitely do not lead to an increase in the safety of others. It is gun-free zones, i.e. zones free of weapons attract criminal elements and mentally unstable citizens as the safest places to carry out their illegal activities, for example, the same mass executions. It is logical that if a person has already decided to carry out a mass murder, then an administrative fine and revocation of a license will hardly stop him, like a guard with a spray can at the metal detector frame at the entrance.
A more logical addition to the Law "On Weapons" would be to oblige the owners of all establishments where the carrying of weapons is not allowed to organize a regulated acceptance of the LLC for temporary storage in a safe with a combination lock and two keys.
But back to OOOP itself. The adopted legislative changes required manufacturers to make constructive changes to weapons and re-certify. Most of the weapon models, albeit with weakened characteristics, remained on the market.
Foreign models of traumatic weapons, by wave of a magic wand, became Russian and began to be produced in Russia by SKD with a gradual increase in the share of domestic components.
Some manufacturers, for example, the Tula company "A + A", a manufacturer of pistols of the "Cordon" type and cartridges of 18x45 caliber, have completely left the traumatic weapons market, focusing on unlicensed aerosol self-defense weapons.
At the same time, such a trend emerged as the resale of "pre-reform" weapons and cartridges. Sales are still being carried out at prices that are two, four, ten times inflated.
Equalization in terms of muzzle energy has led to the fact that the choice of a cartridge of a particular caliber has essentially lost a lot of importance. The difference in mass of the rubber ball within a few grams is compensated for by decreasing the speed for a total of 91 joules. Accordingly, either a slightly less penetrating action, a little more stopping, and vice versa. In fact, this competition, within the boundaries strictly limited by legislators, resembles measuring the speed of smartphones in benchmarks, including the so-called. "Parrots".
Nevertheless, manufacturers continue to come up with more and more types of cartridges with a rubber bullet, trying to "shove in the unpushable" and make the LLC a slightly more effective self-defense weapon, without going beyond 91 joules, and at the same time raise sales a little.
The ban on steel cores led to a change in the 18x45 and 18.5x55 cartridges. The bullets have increased in size, using hard rubber with lead powder to increase the mass. A personally conducted comparative shooting of old 18x45 cartridges with a steel core and new ones without it did not reveal a radical advantage of the former in terms of penetration.
In general, we can say that the effectiveness of the existing traumatic weapon as a means of self-defense is approximately at the same low level, regardless of whether it refers to a former barrelless weapon or small-caliber traumatic weapons. The potentially slightly greater stopping effect of the "Wasp" rounds is compensated by a large ammunition load of small-caliber traumatic weapons.
The line of pistols of the "Wasp" family was replenished with several samples of OOOP, for example, M-09 with cartridges of 18, 5x55 and green LCU (the point is clearly visible during the day). The cost of this pistol is comparable to a small-bore traumatic weapon and significantly exceeds the cost of previously released models. However, they are still on sale, as are the cartridges for them.
Cartridges for all PLCs with electric ignition are still three to five times more expensive than cartridges for small-bore traumatics, which imposes restrictions on the ability to train intensively.
After the first PB-4 pistol, the electronic method of barrel switching began to be used in the Wasp-type pistols. The algorithm of the circuit is as follows - first, the electronics polls the first cartridge with a weak current, if the circuit is closed, then a shot is fired, if not, then the next cartridge is checked, and so on. In theory, this should provide a guarantee of the first shot in the presence of at least one serviceable cartridge in the barrel block.
Another potentially weak element is the magnetic pulse generator - MIG, which is used in the Osa pistols to initialize the shot. Sometimes it is prone to sudden destruction without warning. In this sense, the outdated model PB-4-1 is more reliable, in which electric ignition is carried out from a CR-123A lithium battery, trouble-free, frost-resistant, with a long service life.
The manufacturer can be advised to abandon the MIG in favor of the CR123A battery, to simplify the circuit, leaving simple switching without diagnostics of cartridges "in a circle". Move the diagnostics into a separate element. For example, when the handle is gripped, or when the LCC is turned on, diagnostics of all cartridges in the barrel block is carried out, and their state (yes / no) is displayed by four dim red-green LEDs. This will also allow you to use different types of cartridges in the barrel block without fear that the wrong one will shoot, which was planned to shoot.
The pistols of the Slovak company Grand Power began to be produced in Russia, first by the AKBS company, then by the Dyagterev Plant, and then by the Fortuna company at the AKBS facilities. In general, the models of caliber 10 × 28 - T-12F and compact T-11F are comparable in quality (according to the owners' reviews) with the original Slovak pistol. The latest novelties are the T-15F in.45 × 30 caliber. The cartridge of the new.45 × 30 caliber for the Grand Power T-15 F is loaded with a 15 mm diameter rubber ball into a sleeve made from a cut-off sleeve of 30–06 caliber.
The post-reform models also include the TTK-F pistol, also produced by the Fortuna company. OOOP TTK-F is developed on the basis of the TT pistol design (Tulsky, Tokareva). The frame and bolt of the pistol of the original design are made with a reduction in dimensions relative to the base TT and are made of steel.
An interesting version of OOOP was proposed by the Uralmekhkomplekt company. For a long time, the traumatic version of the Makarov pistol (MP-79T), loved by many, was produced by Izhmekh. There were many complaints about the workmanship of this weapon, including bursting welded teeth in the barrel, or cracking pressed ones. All this led to the constant finishing and "finishing" of weapons by the owners. On guns.ru there were numerous instructions for making the necessary improvements, spare parts were sold - bushings for the barrel, springs, and the like.
On the basis of the PM, the Uralmekhkomplekt company has developed the P-M17T traumatic pistol. The novelty differs from the MR-79T produced by Izhmeh the shutter and the frame made by milling on high-precision machines, the “old-style” trigger guard, a small “beaver tail” in the rear of the frame, the front part of the shutter characteristic of the PM of early releases and a notch on the shutter for convenient front grip reloading.
According to preliminary data, the product turned out to be of sufficient quality, the same as the Makarov pistol should be after decades of production, albeit in a traumatic version.
The mass of the P-M17T pistol is 750 g, standard PM magazines with a capacity of 8 rounds are used. The manufacturer guarantees the accuracy of fire at a distance of 5 m, no more than 60 mm.
Attempts to develop traumatic weapons manufacturers under the conditions of severe administrative restrictions and stagnation of the traumatic weapons market, as well as the emergence of quite high-quality weapons of this type as a result, show how tenacious and adaptable private business is. In the context of legalization of rifled short-barreled weapons in Russia, the issue of the appearance of high-quality pistols would have long gone beyond the stage of promises and assumptions (how many there were and are - "Grach" / GSh-18 / "Strizh" / "Boa" / PL-15) to the creation and production of real samples, which would provide the armed forces and the police with the opportunity to choose the optimal weapon in terms of characteristics and quality.
As for civilian traumatic weapons in general, its very concept is flawed in essence, since it is impossible to obtain a sufficient stopping effect without the risk of killing or causing grievous bodily harm to the attacker.
Initially, a traumatic weapon is a weapon of professionals, which goes in addition to the main military weapon. Not a single police officer in his right mind (provided there is adequate legislation) will not apply trauma to an offender who poses a threat to his life, for example, with a knife or a hammer - he will use a standard military weapon. Traumatics are used to disperse riots and protests, but this is a completely different weapon - a large caliber. It can also be used in special conditions, for example, in enterprises where an explosion is possible, in airplanes, etc. In any case, this specific weapon is an element of the equipment of a professional police officer and special forces.
In my opinion, the best name for a Russian traumatic weapon would be UNOP - unpredictable firearms. Decreased in comparison with combat weapons characteristics - reduced muzzle energy, worse accuracy, weakened zones and the presence of obstacles in the weapon itself turn its use into a lottery. First, it will shoot / not shoot, jam or not jam, then - where it will hit, how the rubber bullet will behave, break it in the barrel or not, hit the soft tissue or bone, how the clothes will affect it, and so on.
If, when shooting in the leg with a combat weapon, you are likely to limit the mobility of the enemy, then with OOOP there is no predictability. The enemy can die from accidentally hitting vessels, as in the case given at the beginning of the article, or not react at all to the shot, continuing the attack.
The unpredictability of the result forces users, especially if the enemy is tightly dressed, to shoot in the head, which greatly increases the likelihood of death and the subsequent sending of the self-defender to the bunk.
Further prospects for the arms market can be assessed in several versions.
In a pessimistic scenario, the requirements for owners and weapons will become more and more stringent. Initiatives have already been voiced about the mandatory wearing of special vests by the owners of OOOP, the prohibition of wearing OOOP and only allowing storage at the place of residence (who will need it then?) And other as absurd as senseless proposals. This would ultimately mean the death of OOOP.
In a stable scenario, the situation with OOOP will freeze indefinitely, and in ten to fifteen years we will see with interest what miracles the domestic engineering thought will achieve in its attempts to create an ideal "trauma".
An optimistic scenario. The likelihood of increasing the permissible muzzle energy is extremely small, although the ways of bills in Russia are inscrutable, although, in my opinion, the only optimistic scenario may be the legalization of rifled short-barreled weapons. Not "free sale", as is often said in incompetent media, but legal, controlled, licensed sale. We will talk about the possibility of implementing such a scenario in Russia, moral, legal and technical aspects, and how this can be related to sporting short-barreled firearms, in the next article.
